WAUPACA COUNTY (NBC 26) — A family is devastated after their four children were killed in a wrong-way crash over the weekend.
The man charged with these four deaths appeared in court for the first time in Waupaca County Monday afternoon.
Scott Farmer, 47, of Neenah, sat before the judge over Zoom from jail.
As we have previously reported, Farmer is charged with four counts of homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle and operating while revoked and causing death. The judge set his cash bond at $750,000.
The prosecution asked for bond to be set at $4 million cash, one million for each person Farmer is charged with of killing in Saturday's head-on crash on Highway 10.
The prosecution said Farmer has been arrested four times for driving while intoxicated and his license was revoked for his lifetime.
The state said in court that Farmer had a three-quarters full bottle of vodka at his side while driving Saturday night, and that he fought with first responders at the scene.
After the bond was set, Schilling, the stepfather of 25-year-old Daniel, 23-year-old Fabian, 14-year-old Lilian and 9-year-old Daniela Gonzalez who all died in the crash, spoke in court asking for a higher dollar amount.
"A known felon, who has done this multiple times, has the ability possibly, economically, to get out of jail again," he told reporters.
"I know we will get through this somehow, but we won't have a future with our children, with any grandchildren," Kurt Schilling, stepfather of the victims, said. "And we'll never get over the hurt and loss that we have, and how can I explain to my wife that her children are gone?"
Schilling said his stepsons were headed home to him and their mother, his wife Paulina Gonzalez, from a shopping trip with their sisters when their SUV collided with Farmer's pickup truck.
"I have my heart broken in this moment as a mother, [their] memories will live with me forever," Gonzalez said through a Spanish interpreter. "We had big projects and dreams. They were good kids, responsible, respectful."
The judge scheduled Farmer's next court appearance for Tuesday, December 26.
